“That’s Just Gay”

In honour of LGBT History Month, Quench looks at the meaning of the word ‘gay’ and its movement from adjective to expletive

As a homosexual man or woman, it would be no surprise to anyone if you described yourself as gay. Or would it? Recently the word “gay” has increasingly been used, not just to identify one’s sexuality, but also to identify something as, well, “just a little bit crap really.”

Last summer this issue was placed slightly in to the public eye when the Radio One DJ Chris Molyes dismissed a dodgy ringtone by saying “I don’t want that one, it’s gay.” This then led to a statement from the BBC’s board of directors that stated the comment could not be meant in a homophobic manner seeing as the word is now common place in modern Britain as an alternative for “rubbish”.

It almost seemed as if the country’s leading media hot house was advocating a play-ground attitude that I’m sure we’ve all had to deal with a couple of times over the years. But Chris Moyles is not a six year old taking the piss out of hop-scotch. He is part of that elite group of broadcasters that seem to successfully indoctrinate the British public into listening to curly haired, skinny jeans wearing indie bands that no one really likes. He is aware of his influential position and should really take more care over what is blurted out on air.

This country has made great leaps in terms of accepting homosexuality into its culture and it is not just the odd straight man saying it, we’ve all slipped in to using the word gay “with a little ‘g’”. But why is it that the word gay has been normalised and not other words that may be deemed as offensive? Is homophobia not as severe as racism or anti-Semitism? Or is it the gay stereotype of being generally quite silly, ripping our shirts off and dancing to house music that makes it so easy to normalise the word “gay”?

As recently proved by Jade Goody, if it were a matter of race then there would be a national crisis quicker than you could say “Shilpa Shetty.” But perhaps that is the point. It is not racism or bullying, there is no incentive of hatred behind the phrase “that’s just gay.” It is, however, a demeaning, poor choice of words. It may be that, as a result of our increasingly liberal and accepting society, homosexuality really isn’t taken that seriously any more. Using the word “gay” as a negative may not be overtly homophobic but it certainly is demeaning to our identities. There is nothing shameful about being a gay person, so why is word used as a negative? One thing is for sure, I may be gay but I do not see myself as “a bit crap”